Strength
by Canadino
Summary: Finn could never escape his past even if he tried to deny it. OC/Fin, subtle Ciel/Finn - oh and the OC is male!


**Disclaimer: If Kuroshitsuji were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics. If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.**

Background music:

**Minimal fluff 09!**

--

Strength

When those circus twins steal his hat, Finian realizes that although he may try and hide his past, it will never be wiped away.

--

He had lived as a grimy street urchin for a while after his parents abandoned him. He managed along with his cute smile and quick hands. Then two well dressed men came out of nowhere and plucked him off the streets. Finian was ready for jail; not the elegant mansion he was led to. They let him take the first shower he had taken in a long time. The promising start and relative calm that came with the bath disappeared when they led him to a room where he was branded on the back of his neck, becoming nothing more than letters and numbers; led down a cold hallway wearing nothing more than an itchy white hospital gown; and thrown into a dark cell with a number of other young children.

Hell began.

Food was nothing more than glop that seemed to be a mixture of starch, meat, and other indiscernible objects. Some of them were led away – half returned and half disappeared. Stories were exchanged, terror built. Chelsea with the blonde hair had been cut to pieces. Philip with the strange birthmark had been set on fire. Truth flitted around skittishly, drawing on experiences that the survivors came back with. Everyday, they were all individually led away for daily shots, which kept them alive and prepared them for testing. Everyday, they were led away, with the feeling this could be their last time walking down that long hallway.

For a while, Finian managed to escape the worst. Escape? It was literally impossible. The windows were barred and even climbing on each other's shoulders _with_ the single bed in the cell, the shaft of light could not be reached. The door was locked every time those men came and went. The journey down the hallway was always led by those men, flanked on either side. Lenny tried it once, a scapegoat. His screams died down eventually but reverberated through their minds, dying away long after the boy himself slipped into the afterlife.

It was for the government, some said. It was for the advancement in science, others insisted. It was punishment, the believers maintained, punishment for all the bad things they had done as children. Finn listened, stayed quiet, huddled in the corner. If you kept to yourself, the men wouldn't take you away. It was only if you started to warm up to the others: those men didn't want an army against them and broke up any friendship, any relationship.

Nine children eventually whittled down to seven, then six, then four, then two. Finn sat on one side of the cell, facing the remaining child, a girl – Isabel. They rarely talked and for a while, Finn forgot how. Once, they wondered aloud if they had been forgotten; surely it could be possible, as they had passed other rooms full of children on their way to their daily shots? Could the other rooms be emptying too? Would those men ever be caught? Neither could answer and they fell silent again.

--

Time passed, slowly and agonizingly, in that dark cell. The gowns started becoming tight and small. Isabel complained of stomach pains. Finn had never called for the men before, but he had been forced to when she started bleeding out of nowhere and set them both into a panic. At once, Isabel was pulled out and replaced with a small boy around four years old – his name was Jake. Finn never saw Isabel again.

Jake was quiet, never fussy. He had scars all over his back. He never asked Finn's name, even when the blonde had asked him. He sat in the corner, in a daze for most of the time.

Finn had been summoned recently, taken into a bright white room for various tests. He had had to run for what seemed to be hours, beaten by what seemed to be a leather belt if he slowed. He had been shown various objects and forced to recall them or suffer minor burns by the cigars that some of the men smoked. He had to hold his breath under water. Pushed, pushed, pushed to the limit. The only solace was he was allowed to return to the cell after one or two strenuous tests, but that itself was a curse. The longer he survived, the more frequent his tests became.

To try and get the days to seem bearable, he told stories to Jake. About the many heists he pulled off to survive. About one of the Queen's visits. About sneaking around at night and catching some drunks wobbling down the street. He picked their pockets. None of the stories produced a smile on the boy's face and Finn gave up. He would hold onto these memories then, by himself.

--

When the door opened early one morning, while Finn and Jake were still asleep, Finn had been ready for the worst. While blinking sleep from his eyes and adjusting to the hallway's bright light, he saw the figure of one of those men along with a child, a boy. "Get in," the man grunted, shoving the youth into the cell before slamming the door behind him. The boy stumbled forward and turned to the door, which gave off a slight click as the lock was activated. Jake merely mumbled and turned over in his sleep while Finn stared at the new addition.

"Who are you?" he whispered, marveling at how he still had his voice, how it still sounded full of life.

"Kyle. Where are we?"

Finn wanted to shrug in reply, but he didn't have the energy or will to do so and only stared back. The boy, Kyle, looked at him, then at Jake, then back at Finn again. "What's your name?"

"Finn. Finian."

"Finian," the boy said slowly, as if trying out the syllables on his tongue. "I like it."

It was the first compliment Finn had gotten in a long time and he had since forgotten how to respond. Surely he wouldn't be wrong if he felt his face heat up? Thank goodness it was already dark. The boy came closer to the bed and Finn could see Kyle's features clearer: brown hair, brown eyes, a serious expression. There was an unwavering intensity that made Finn shiver and he propped himself up.

"Who is this?" Kyle asked, kneeling down to inspect Jake.

"His name's Jake. He doesn't speak much."

"What happened to him? What happened to you?" Kyle met eyes with Finn again, and Finn heard the unspoken question. _What's going to happen to me_?

Finn shook his head and he hadn't been aware of the tears sliding down his face until Kyle leaned forward to dab them away with a finger, ending all the questions.

--

Jake had been taken away. The little boy looked so listless as the men took him away that Finn almost thought he knew what was coming. It was a horrible idea and he quickly shook it out of his head. Kyle was much more open than Jake and could easily distract him, could easily use words to drown the fears and suspicions of all their dooms.

Kyle had a back story, but it wasn't important. They spent their time getting to know each other, what the other would like to do if they managed to get out alive, how ugly some of the men were – Kyle had a knack of making Finn laugh even in the darkest of situations. Then one day, Kyle had been taken away for his daily shots and didn't come back after the usual amount of time allotted for the shots. There was nothing to do but sit and wait.

He had almost started praying to the God he didn't even believe in when the door finally opened and Kyle teetered into the cell slowly, bandages covering part of his head, one arm, his torso. The man who led him back grunted and closed the door again. Kyle wobbled in place for a moment before collapsing against Finn, who had been sitting against the wall.

"Kyle! What happened to you?"

Good…the boy was still warm. Breathing was still steady and regular. There was no excess of blood. Finn held Kyle tight, knowing they both had narrowly evaded a sure bad ending.

"Finn…" Kyle murmured, an almost dead weight against the blonde. "I won't…I won't _die_, and I…I won't let them do those things to you. All…all that time I was thinking…what if it had been _you_…" He shuddered and Finn felt his stomach leap inside him. "They have things you wouldn't _believe_…"

"Shh. Shh." Finn whispered, tightening his grip around Kyle. "Don't talk about it anymore. Don't say anything about it. It's over. You're here. I'm here. They only come once a day. We're safe now."

"I heard them. I heard them say things about you. I can't let them take you." Kyle struggled to sit up, facing Finn. "Finn." Again, that voice. How Kyle breathed his name, a spell that left his heart pounding. "They said things as if you were a girl. I don't like what they were saying…Finn, you can't go…"

"I'm not going anywhere," Finn assured him, despite the apprehension that had come to life. Kyle shook his head and reached forward, running his fingers through Finn's now longer blonde hair. "It's your fault," he murmured. "You're so cute."

It really felt like it; like all the blood in his body rushed to his face. "What are you saying," he blabbered, suddenly feeling self conscious. "Don't talk like that."

"It's true," Kyle mumbled, before closing his eyes and leaning against the wall. "I'm so tired…" They sat in silence before Kyle broke the silence again. "I know what they did to Jake."

"Don't tell me."

"But it's terrible. They –"

"_Don't_ tell me," Finn begged.

--

It had been night when Kyle first kissed him. They had been shivering under the covers together, as it was impossible to survive the night without sharing body warmth when the air became colder. Finn had been trying to slip into unconsciousness when Kyle reached out and brushed his bangs out of his face. Finn opened his eyes sleepily just in time to see Kyle lean forward and press their lips together. The warmth that exploded in his body was enough for him to sleep through the night without blankets.

--

Those men let them bathe every so often to make sure they didn't all rot before they could be put to use. It was after one of these issued showers that both discovered that underneath the awful chemical smells, there was a hint of honey in the soap. Finn sat still as he let Kyle smell him, planting butterfly kisses on the clean skin. "You smell sweet, Finn."

Finn giggled softly, surprised at the happy sound which he hadn't made in such a long time. Kyle smiled despite the bandages on his hands as he rerouted to aim his mouth at Finn's lips. An almost dark look flitted across his eyes as he broke away and Finn frowned. "They were talking about you again."

"Don't talk about that." Whenever Kyle mentioned those men, he always became sour and Finn didn't feel like listening to such ominous talk anymore. Kyle shook his head, determination replacing the darkness. "I can't let those men be your first, Finn. I just can't let that happen."

The breath almost left his body. "What are you going to do?" Finn asked breathlessly, almost knowing what would happen next. Kyle smiled sheepishly before pressing Finn against the bed. "Don't you worry, Finn. I'll be gentle."

--

Hope didn't stand a chance in that mansion, that lab, but a spark ignited in that dark cell. They had to get out. Escaping directly from the cell was impossible, so that route was scratched out. Meals were delivered through a slot in the door and neither was small enough to crawl out. Struggling during daily shots would surely result in instant death. None of the men let the children out of their sights for longer than a breath. The labs and test rooms were secure and fleeing that direction was also fruitless.

Finn had been readjusting the bandages on his shoulder when Kyle was forcefully shoved into the door again. "Don't even try and get frisky, kid," one of the men barked before slamming the door. Kyle rubbed his head with a frown before grinning widely. Glancing at the door to make sure no one was watching, he fished a key out the folds of his tattered gown. Finn's eyes widened.

"How did you get that?"

"Lucky. I got that old fart and he didn't notice when I reached over…" Kyle mimed a subtle reach. "…and just took it, just like that! The other guy's that fat guy…you know, the one who can't see. Anyway, the old fart thought I was getting fresh with him and almost beat the stuffing out of me. But it doesn't matter. We got it!" Kyle grinned. "And we're getting out!"

"When?"

"Tomorrow. After the daily shots. You know as well as I do that they go eat breakfast or something after all the kids have been attended to. It's our best shot. Security tightens during night so we can't go tonight and it's already a bit late in the day to get out. Don't worry! We're finally getting out!" Kyle laughed, a nice reassuring sound that made Finn, who had a pang of doubt, smile.

"I'm so glad," Kyle continued after the mirth died down and he knelt down next to Finn. "We can get out of here and run away. Get away from England. We'll sneak over to France. Have you ever been to France?"

Finn shook his head, eyes wide with wonder.

"Well, I came from France. It was nice there." Kyle paused. "My folks were killed by pirates. The whole ship. They saved the children. I think they worked for those men." He gestured toward the door. "That's how I ended up here." Kyle blinked. "Why are you crying?"

"It's…it's a sad story!" Finn whimpered, wiping away the tears with his hands.

Kyle laughed again, pulling Finn's arms down to dab the tears away with his frayed sleeve. "It doesn't matter anymore. After tomorrow, we're going to be out of here! Just hold your breath a little longer. We're going to have a happy ending like those stories you always tell."

Finn smiled slowly, realizing that for a second in this hell hole, he was truly happy. "I'd like that."

--

Things had seemed routine enough; as the men led Finn away, Kyle waved his hand in the air and Finn smiled. The injections were unusually fast today and as Finn stood up to be led back to the cell, the men led him off to another room. He couldn't afford to look confused and ask questions; he couldn't put Kyle's escape plan at risk. The men pushed him into a padded white room with lights aimed at him, so bright they hurt. There was a mirror that spanned one whole wall and Finn had a feeling the men could see him from behind it. Fidgeting, he allowed himself to be led to the middle of the room, where a single syringe lay in a metal dish on a cart.

"…should be ready from all those supplements we gave him?" Finn heard one man mutter. A shot of fear coursed through his frame; surely this wasn't what Kyle had been warning him about?

"If this works, he'll be our first success!"

"Is this room strong enough to withstand him?"

"Should be. We can use the bolts to subdue him, though."

One thing was sure: this wasn't a routine shot procedure. Finn tried to pull away when one of the men grabbed his arm and suddenly experienced an intense pain at his back. Apparently one of the men had pulled a cattle prod. Shaking, he let himself be pulled forward and the needle pierced his skin, injecting the strangely colored liquid into his bloodstream.

The shots weren't usually so painful, but this one _burned_, as if his blood had become acid and was burning away at every single organ. Opening his mouth to scream, no sound came out and Finn fell to the floor as the men rushed out of the room to observe the changes from safety behind the two-way mirror. There was no way to take the pain standing up or in any upright position; it changed from second to second – one moment he felt as if his skull was one fire, the next it seemed as if he was being pulled apart by lethargic mules. He was vaguely aware that he had thrown up and was trying to lessen the pain by staying as still as possible. It was an agonizing five minutes.

By the time the pain ebbed away, Finn was already starting to tire. He was worn out trying to resist the pain and numbness was starting to replace the discomfort. Before he could doze off, the men rushed back in to inspect him.

"Is he alive?"

"It seems so! It worked!"

"Does he…have the power?"

So many voices and so many probes. Frustrated at the whole situation, which had thrown the carefully constructed escape plan to the wind, Finn grabbed the nearest arm that touched him and shoved it away. He had only meant for a push to get the man away; the next moment, the man was against the opposite wall, trying to get his wind back from the impact. Finn blinked. Had he done that?

Almost instantly, the men were upon him, shackling him to heavy weights that didn't seem too heavy at all anymore. Struggling to escape the bounds, Finn reached for a weight and felt a shock again. Cattle prod man. It seemed that the weights were also discharging as well. Sitting limply, Finn cursed that of all the days to experiment him, it had to be _that_ day, and it had to be strength he had to be endowed with. The men backed away slowly and one of them nodded.

"Success."

"Wait until the Queen gets to hear about this!"

There was a loud buzz and the men turned to the door. A guard opened it and rushed in, frantically whispering to the rest of the men in the room. Finn couldn't catch anything even if he wanted to; sleep was overpowering. The men were starting to file out worriedly when he leaned forward and

--

When Finn finally came to, he was still shackled down to the floor. The chains rattled as he tried to rub the headache that had formed. The lab was well lit and there were no windows, so he couldn't be quite so sure of the time. It was late, his body told him. Too late to carry out the plan. When would he be returned to the cell? To his horror, he realized with his new power, he couldn't be able to see Kyle again – at least not in that little cell he could now obliterate. Looking around frantically, he wondered how he could get the men's attention, so he could ask to see his roommate once more. Maybe just _once_…

"I'm glad to see you awake." Finn jumped as he heard a man's voice in a loudspeaker. The mirror suddenly turned into a normal window and Finn blinked through the darkened glass to see another lab. The various scientists had gathered around a figure, one Finn recognized to be Kyle. "Kyle…!" The name barely left his throat when he noticed that the boy was more scuffed up than usual and yes, he was visually bleeding now.

"Don't think we didn't know what you two were doing," one of the men sneered. "Our annual checkups told us everything. You two were supposed to be untouched goods. But we'd let that slide, since neither seemed to show much promise. But here you go, accepting our drug! You're _special_ now. And do you know what we found on your little friend this morning?"

Finn made no sound and the man continued. "We found this little boy running around trying to find you! He had snuck a key from one of the guards!" Finn scanned the other room and noticed that the old fart Kyle had talked about was not present. "Escaping equals major punishment," the man said, regaining Finn's attention. "And if your little friend makes it through this one, maybe…just maybe you two can join each other again."

Finn's heart leapt at the prospect. "Please…" he began, as another man interrupted him. "Of course," this bespeckled man added, "we can't be sure, since this boy wasn't given the proper shots as you were."

The memory of the pain returned and suddenly Finn wished the mirror was back. "Please…please don't!" The men on the opposite side chuckled and roughly grabbed Kyle's arm and inject the needle and it was over. Finn didn't even feel the salty tears slide down his face, wasn't even aware that he was screaming. He tried to close his eyes, but the shocks came back until he was forced to open his eyes, witness the pain that poor, sweet Kyle had to endure for his act of rebellion, blood. It was all over and Finn wished to die as they carried Kyle's body out of the room, leaving the blood stained walls as a warning for other potential escapees.

--

He had been sleeping. Dozing off in his new, strengthened cell, drowning in dreams of brown eyes again. The crashes outside the door no longer surprised him, although one loud smash woke him up. Sitting up listlessly, he realized the door had been thrown off the hinges. Whoever had been experimented on had gone berserk, for sure. Finn blinked again and realized that a boy was standing in the doorway – for a split second, it seemed like Kyle, but no. This boy was dressed quite sharply, a top hat dangerously sliding over his eyes. Straightening his hat, the boy scanned the room until he saw Finn.

"They got you too," Finn murmured. The boy appeared not to hear him and beckoned to someone in the hallway. A tall, lanky man appeared, looking nowhere as menacing as the men who had killed Kyle. This man was also well-dressed. It struck Finn that the man seemed to be a butler of sorts to this boy, whom he finally noticed had an almost pirate-like eye patch.

"Ah, I believe this is the super strength boy they were talking about."

The boy stared at Finn for a long while. "You're free," he finally said slowly, one blue eye piercing. "We saved you and your other friends a while ago. The Queen sent us. She heard that this place had been doing shadowy experiments. We're supposed to shut the place down. You're free." The boy waited for a reaction and received none.

"It is possible he is in shock," the butler man explained.

The boy looked bored, as if something should happen to catch his attention again. "You say this was the super strength boy?"

"Yes, young master."

For a moment, the boy looked interested. Almost as quickly as this interest appeared, a look of feigned boredom appeared again. "What's your name?"

Afraid his voice had left him again, Finn opened his mouth and was relieved as he spoke. "Finian."

"Finian. I see." The boy turned to the man and the man nodded. "My name is Ciel. I'm under the Queen, one of her servants who reads out the law. Would you like to work at my house? Your services would be greatly appreciated. Trust me, you'll be treated much more nicer than you were here. It's a nice place. Will you accept?"

At this point, there was no choice. If he really was as free as this boy, Ciel, said, then he had no where else to go. With his new endowed power, he would probably be persecuted or forced to join a circus. This boy looked like his ticket to a better place, and he figured this boy wouldn't even have the imagination to hurt him like those men had hurt him.

Numbly, Finn followed Ciel and the butler, introduced as Sebastian, down the long hallway, watching as the Queen's guards freed other children from the cells and quickly filed them out of the mansion. No one seemed to pay them any mind and Finn was completely willing to walk out without looking back when they passed a room with the door ajar. There were bodies lined up in perfect rows and somehow…

"Boy. Don't go in there. Those were the bodies we found." Completely ignoring Sebastian, Finn dashed into the room, earning glances from the guards who were putting the dead in the records. Finally finding him, Finn, knelt down next to Kyle, who looked mischievous in death. He hadn't had the proper means to mourn and as Ciel and Sebastian came up to him, he cried.

"I'm sorry we couldn't save your friend," Ciel cleared his throat awkwardly. "If we had gotten here a bit earlier…"

Finn shook his head, his vision blurry from the tears. Finding Kyle's hand, he held it, the joints already stiff. He found the small key still in the boy's grip and slid it out. Kyle wouldn't need it anymore; he had finally gotten out and look, he was getting out too! Holding the key, Finn leapt up to the surprise of the two standing next to him. "Well! Let's get out of here! I don't want to stay in this place any more!" Finn's sudden enthusiasm caused an exchanged glance between Ciel and Sebastian.

"Alright then, come this way."

--

"…and these are the grounds. You'll be groundskeeper as long as you here. You should be able to deal with the manual labor, and remember…hold back. You carry much more force than you'd think." Ciel smiled as the tour ended. Finn blinked. It had only been a few hours, but now he had completely changed; he had gotten cleaned up and definitely looked as if he belonged in this spacious heaven. Ciel watched the leaves in the breeze a moment longer before pulling out the straw hat he had been holding behind his back. "Oh, and wear this. To cover up your neck." Holding it out, the boy grinned and Finn felt his heart leap for a moment – oh, but no, he couldn't fall for his employer this fast. Taking the hat, Finn secured it around his neck so the awful code could no longer be seen.

"I…well…I…thank you!" Finn bowed, startling Ciel. "Thank you so much for taking me in! I won't disappoint you!"

"There's no need for that," Ciel said quickly. "Just do a good job. Protect this place when the time comes. I doubt you'll disappoint me." Smiling charmingly again, unaware he was jabbing affectionate needles in his new gardener's heart, Ciel turned back to the house. "I'm counting on you, Finian."

"Yes, sir! I won't disappoint, sir!"

And now, here he was, defending house and home, the place where he had been saved. It was a place where he was accepted, and sometimes, if he was still enough, he could pretend Kyle was still with him.

Yes, he would help exterminate these mice, as if his life depended on it…well, since it did.

Owari

--

Note: I _deeply_ apologize for this. I read the recent chapter of Kuro and it hinted at Finn's backstory so I had to write this. I deeply apologize; it's hardly any good, nor does it have substance, _nor_ is it nice and brief. But I wrote my first Mark Sue, Kyle! Whoo! Not. Review. Please, even to flame me.


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